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Bezig met laden... Bokkensprongen korte verhalen (2004)door Joanne Harris
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. the first story in this collection was okay, the next i didn't like, and then basically everything after was great. there was maybe one more that didn't work all that well for me, but otherwise, the rest of these were a fun collection of quirky, dark, funny, and strange (but not too strange) and i really liked them. ( ) I've enjoyed Joanne Harris' novels for about ten years; she's one of just a handful of female novelists I follow. Her ability to bring a location and an atmosphere to life for the reader is almost unparalleled, but those are qualities that are highlighted by the long form of the novel. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get with her short stories, and...well, I think my hesitation was justified. It's not that the stories are in any way *bad.* They're not. Several of them simply feel very bitty. In a couple of cases, this is intentional; something like "Any Girl Can Be a CandyKiss Girl!" is intentionally tiny because it revolves around a single joke. Others, though, simply pull out the "gotcha" too far. I dare any experienced reader not to predict the general thrust of "The Ugly Sister," "Al and Christine's World of Leather" or "Last Train to Dogtown" within a couple of pages. It's not that they're written poorly, but they're predictable, and Harris doesn't get the length she needs to make the journey feel worthwhile regardless. The best stories are, frankly, longer, and allow Harris to paint a picture through first-person perspective. "Gastronomicon" is just as simple, really, as some of the other stories mentioned, but it tickles the fancy a little bit more just through the sheer naivete of the narrator. Even better is "Class of '81," a quirky class reunion story, and best of all is "Breakfast at Tesco's," which finds a lover of old movies trapped as a bystander in a modern-day situation. Even "The Little Mermaid," which wears its fairy-tale-update aspect right there on its sleeve, is made more powerful through Harris' use of first person.
Twenty-two short stories (average length 12 pages) on a variety of themes (including, of course, from this author, food). There are characters from fairytales and fantasy, and satirical treatment of current concerns - obsession with image and celebrity (many celebrity names are dropped in), plastic surgery, kinky sex aids, paedophilophobia, road rage. Particular savagery is reserved for the commercial exploitation of young girls - the author has a young daughter. Somewhat egotistical personal notes precede each story.
Each of the twenty-two tales in this enchanting collection is a surprise and a delight, melding the poignant and the possible with the outrageous, the magical, and, sometimes, the eerily haunting. Wolf men, dolphin women, defiant old ladies, and middle-aged manufacturers of erotic leatherwear -- in Jigs & Reels the miraculous goes hand in hand with the mundane, the sour with the sweet, and the beautiful, the grotesque, the seductive, and the disturbing are never more than one step away. Whether she's exploring the myth of beauty, the pain of infidelity, or the wonder of late-life romance, Joanne Harris once again proves herself a master of the storyteller's trade. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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